Nicklas Lidstrom does not need an introduction. If anything, people are likely running out of superlatives to describe him with.

Put together on one sheet of paper, everything he’s achieved is nothing short of remarkable. Four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Memorial Trophies, one Conne Smythe award, 12 All-Star Game inductions and one Olympic gold medal place him amongst the legends of the sport.

The Calder Trophy was one of the few awards he failed to claim, but that was because his competition was one of the most electrifying players of all time in Pavel Bure. In a dual between a natural scorer and an unflappable defenseman, the scorer was voted as top rookie. It just goes to show you, even a performer with the pedigree of Lidstrom can’t win them all.

Steve Yzerman’s introduction signaled the start of something special in Detroit and Lidstrom is a huge factor in its continuity. Two decades have flown by since the veteran was first positioned into the line-up, during which the Red Wings are yet to come up short of reaching the postseason. Few matters are automatic in this day and age, like someone being fairly suspended by Brendan Shanahan for intolerable violations. One thing you can count on though is that Lidstrom’s name is synonymous with success. (more…)

“Right from the day he first stepped on the ice for the Vancouver Canucks, he wowed the city.” –Pat Quinn

“What Pavel brought at the time, the team never had before. And that was a superstar that was young and I wouldn’t say the word overly confident but he wasn’t afraid to say ‘Look I’m going to score 50 goals’, and he went out and did it.” –Cliff Ronning

“Some of the things that Pavel did at high speed, I couldn’t do it walking through it sometimes. Players are always fooling around before practice or during practice to try different things. But when Pavel did this, it was all at a high speed and he did it in games.” –Stan Smyl

“He was scary with the puck, I mean he could do stuff that made other players look like they were in another league. It would be boys playing with men sometimes”. –Arthur Griffiths

“Pavel was the type of player, and there’s not a lot of guys that can do that, but literally bring people out of their seats and incredibly explosive. He just made things happen when you didn’t think anything could happen.” –Trevor Linden

“He’s the most talented hockey player I’ve ever played with in my life and that I’ve ever seen period.” –Greg Adams (more…)